Senate votes to recruit farm workers
Lawmakers hurry to wrap up as end of this year’s session looms

May 3, 2008
By Joe Hanel | Herald Denver Bureau

DENVER - State legislators, rushing to finish their yearly session next week, on Friday passed several major bills they've been considering this year.

The Senate on Friday approved a plan to recruit Latin American farm workers to help fill the labor shortage in Colorado's fields.

House Bill 1325 passed on a 20-15 vote. The bill sets up a pilot program to help farmers and ranchers use the federal H-2A visa program, which is plagued by delays. The state also might hire a recruiter to attract as many as 1,000 foreign workers next year and 5,000 five years from now.

Visas last for as long as 10 months, after which the workers have to go home.

Opposition came from Republican opponents of immigration and Democrats who worried the workers will be exploited.

Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, unsuccessfully tried to prohibit pregnant women from using the visa program, because children born in the United States would be American citizens.

The sponsor, Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, said Harvey had no basis for his fears.

"The majority of these people love their country. They want to go back to their country," Tapia said.

If the House agrees with changes made by the Senate, HB 1325 will go to Gov. Bill Ritter for final approval.

House OKs health-insurance plan

House members voted to ask the insurance industry to design basic health plans for Colorado's 800,000 uninsured people.

The House voted 42-22 for Senate Bill 217, which is co-sponsored by Rep. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango.

The bill asks insurance companies to design "value benefit plans" for uninsured people. In 2009 or 2010, the governor and Legislature could vote to offer the plans and possibly to require everyone to carry some sort of health insurance.

Rep. Gwyn Green, D-Golden, called it "the most dangerous piece of legislation I've seen."

She worries that future legislators will require people to buy plans that leave them underinsured and benefit only insurance companies.

But the sponsor, Rep. Tom Massey, R-Poncha Springs, said the bill merely gathers information for future legislators.

"If information is dangerous, then guilty as charged," Massey said.

The Senate could vote to approve House changes as early as Monday.

Ritter's school plan wins in House

Gov. Bill Ritter's Colorado Achievement Plan for Kids won final passage in the House on Friday.

Senate Bill 212 would rewrite educational standards in public schools to prepare all students for college or the work force. Educators will likely scrap the Colorado Student Assessment Plan tests in favor of a new set of exams.

The bill passed on a 60-4 vote.

If the Senate agrees to House changes, the bill will go to Ritter for final approval.

The Legislature is set to end its 2008 session by Wednesday.

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